The Museum of the Weird in Austin

These are some of the star attractions at the Museum of the Weird in Austin, Texas. The city’s slogan is “Keep Austin Weird” and there’s no better place to experience that than at this museum. It’s also fun to play tourist in your own town once in a while.

First up was the ‘Elephant Man’. Born with some severe deformities, Joseph Carey Merrick was exhibited as a human curiosity (a.k.a. a freak) at shows and carnivals around England. Doctors and scientists could never really explain the cause of Merrick’s condition and he passed away at the young age of 27.

The next interesting item was this three-eyed two-faced cow, supposedly born alive, and lived for a full 2 weeks on a farm in Pennsylvania. It’s pretty strange, as you can probably tell.

Next is a two-headed chicken. What do you think, is it real?

Here are a few other weird things from the museum, including a zombie and a skeleton pirate.

Lastly, there was a sword swallower who put on a show for us. If it wasn’t impressive enough that he swallowed what was probably an 18-inch sword, he also started juggling while it was down his throat. I don’t really understand the physics of the whole thing, but it’s fun to watch.

Whether or not this is all real (you be the judge), the Museum of the Weird in Austin is an entertaining way to spend an hour of your afternoon.

Have you been to anything similarly weird or strange? Let’s hear some good stories in the comments below.

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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."